Personal Questions

What is your highest degree in Musicology and how many years of studies does it take to achieve it ? any specialization ?Dr. Nicola Dibben : I have a doctorate in Music (PhD), which is the highest academic qualification in the UK. The PhD takes 3 years of full-time study, and prior to that I took a Masters degree in Psychology of Music (1 year full-time), and a Bachelors Degree in Music (3 Years full-time). I specialise in two areas of research : popular music studies and psychology of music. The psychology of music investigates how humans make music (perform/compose/improvise), acquire musical skills, and use music in daily life. I wrote a book on psychology of music with two colleagues : the book is called "Music and Mind in Everyday Life" (Oxford University Press, 2010).

Can you play any instrument ?ND : Yes, I learnt the piano, classical singing, flute and harpsichord, but I play for fun at home now, not for other people.

On Biophilia

When have you been contacted by Björk to participate on the Biophilia Project ?ND : I was first contacted two years ago to ask if I wanted to collaborate with Björk on her new project. Björk wanted to work with a musicologist because Biophilia has a specifically educational component. The reason she contacted me was because I had written a book about her music ("Björk" published by Equinox Press, 2009) and she liked the way I had represented her.[/quote]

What is your role in Biophilia ?ND : As well as being an audio album Biophilia is a suite of apps, and these apps allow the user to explore a science-nature topic and a particular musical parameter. My role is to provide musical analyses which appear within the apps which talk about the inspirations behind the track, and what the connection is between the nature-science topic and the musical feature in each case, and also to try to bring together the different elements of the apps (songs, musical game/interactive app, scores, instruments, and so on). These analyses were written in collaboration with Björk.

I am also contributing to the Biophilia Music School - workshops with children being held during each of Björk’s residencies when she performs the live show. The workshops use the apps to teach the children and allow them to make new music, and the children also get to see and play the new instruments which Björk commissioned for this project.

Have you suggested any custom instrument to Björk ?ND : No : these are all Björk’s ideas.

Did you participate to the actual process of writing lyrics or music ?ND : No. The lyrics were all written by Björk and Sjón, and the music by Björk (with some other sound engineers and musicians).

What was your work to prepare the writings on Biophilia tracks ? ND : I had already written a book about Björk’s music so I was very familiar with her compositional style, aims and interests. So I prepared for doing the writing by "researching" Biophilia : this meant spending a long time interviewing and talking to Björk about her ideas for the project, listening to and analysing the music (working out their harmonic and melodic structure, metric and rhythmic structures, use of timbre, etc), analysing the lyrics, learning about the new instruments she had invented by talking to the instrument makers, and talking to Jonas Sen who had made the musical transcriptions of Biophilia for the apps to get his views about the music too.

Are your writings based on general ideas and concepts or on the actual final lyrics and music ?ND : The writing process has been very organic and has evolved with the rest of the project. When I started work on Biophilia Björk played me early versions of the tracks and we talked about her ideas for the apps. The apps hadn’t been created at that point. Then, as the versions of the songs for the apps were finalised and the apps themselves began to be made I was able to do detailed analysis.

Do you plan to write a more detailed book or essay on this project ?ND : Possibly, but we’ll see what happens. This has been a very organic and spontaneous process.

Is it easier to document someone work with or without his help ?ND : That’s a really interesting question ! In this case I was writing for a very specific purpose which changes things a bit : Björk wanted me to document the connections in her work between the music and the nature-science topic, so it was definitely easier having her guidance. It means that what you read in the apps includes a lot of Björk’s ideas for the project. And there are some things I just couldn’t have done or known without her input - for example, her inspirations, and sometimes, the connections she sees between things. But there are also insights which I brought to the project. That’s the fun thing about collaboration ! Maybe the disadvantage of working closely with the artist and documenting his or her work is that you can loose your critical distance. A good aim, as a colleague once told me, is that you try to be the best kind of "critical friend". There is also an ethical question : it is much better to have the involvement of the artist you are documenting so that he/she has the chance to participate and feel that they have been represented fairly, and so the research becomes a process of benefit to everyone involved. So, personally I think it is better to better to work with the person although in some ways it is more demanding !

On Biophilia Music School

The Biophilia Music School is basically for children . Is it opened to everybody though ?ND : The Music School is Björk’s idea and is only for children. However, other people can experience some of the same things by attending the live shows and seeing the invented instruments in action, and by using the apps, which are what the kids are using to make and learn about music.

Would the experience be different if it was made for grown ups ?ND : I don’t think the experience would be very different for adults. I think the way the Music School works is more dependent on the level of musical experience of the participants rather than their age.

Will you participate to the other Biophilia residencies ? ND : It would be nice take part in the other residencies as well but I have a full-time job as a lecturer so I’ll have to see...